AP Lang Rhetorical Terms (Red/Asterisked)

Alliteration

Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious), or to a work of art.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage.

Analogy

A comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things; it often uses something simple or familiar to explain something unfamiliar or complex.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.

Anecdote

A brief story used to illustrate a point or claim.

Aphorism

A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral principle.

Argument

A process of reasoned inquiry; a persuasive discourse resulting in a coherent movement from a claim to a conclusion.

Audience

The listener, viewer, or reader of a text; most texts are likely to have several of these.

Claim

Also called an assertion or proposition, it states the main idea or position of an argument and, unlike a topic, must be arguable.

Colloquialism

Words or phrases that have a conversational feel and are not generally used in formal written English.

Connotation

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition; often positive or negative and greatly affecting tone.

Context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

Denotation

The strict, literal dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color.

Diction

A speaker’s choice of words; analysis of it looks at those choices and what they add to the message.

Emphasis

Placing importance on a particular idea through positioning, proportion, isolation, or repetition of wording.

Ethos

Greek for “character”; the appeal to a speaker’s credibility and trustworthiness, established by who they are and what they say.

Euphemism

A more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.

Figurative Language

Nonliteral language, also called tropes or metaphorical language, that often compares one thing to another explicitly or implicitly.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect; an overstatement.

Imagery

A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds, appealing to the senses.

Irony

Saying one thing but meaning something else, or a situation opposite to what is expected, creating a noticeable incongruity.

Jargon

Specialized, often obscure or pretentious terminology used by a particular group of people.

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.

Logos

Greek for “embodied thought”; the appeal to reason using clear, rational ideas and specific details, examples, facts, or statistics.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares two things without using “like” or “as.”

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere created by a text.

Narration

In classical oration, the factual and background information establishing why a subject or problem needs addressing, preceding the evidence.

Oxymoron

A paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words.

Paradox

A statement or situation seemingly contradictory on the surface but delivering an ironic truth.

Parallelism

Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Pathos

Greek for “suffering” or “experience”; the appeal to an audience’s emotions, values, desires, hopes, fears, or prejudices.

Persona

Greek for “mask”; the face or character that a speaker shows to an audience.

Personification

Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea.

Purpose

The goal the speaker wants to achieve.

Rhetoric

Aristotle’s “faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”; the art of finding ways to persuade an audience.

Rhetorical Appeals

Techniques used to persuade an audience by emphasizing what they find important; the three major ones are ethos, logos, and pathos.

Rhetorical Question

A figure of speech in the form of a question posed for effect rather than to get an answer.

Satire

The use of irony or sarcasm to critique society or an individual.

Simile

A figure of speech that explains or clarifies an idea by comparing it explicitly to something else using “like,” “as,” or “as though.”

Style

A writer’s specific way of saying things, including arrangement of ideas, word choice, syntax, and figurative language.

Syntax

The arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences, including word order and sentence length and structure.

Theme

A writer’s thoughts on a topic; not just the topic itself but what the author develops about it.

Tone

A speaker's attitude toward the subject, conveyed through stylistic and rhetorical choices.

Understatement

Presenting something as less important or urgent than it actually is, often for satiric or comic effect; also called litotes.

Vernacular

The speech patterns of a particular group of people or region.

Voice

The unique flavor of a piece based upon the author, created through tone, diction, syntax, and imagery, making writing personal and unique.